


For the love of Jim

by I_am_a_Cephalopod



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Bar fights, Jim is a mother hen, Leonard McCoy is overprotective, M/M, harrassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 09:44:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1774618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_am_a_Cephalopod/pseuds/I_am_a_Cephalopod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bones hasn't really given much thoughts to his feelings towards Jim Kirk, beyond the protective streak a mile wide and the willingness to forget all oaths he has ever taken for the man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For the love of Jim

**Author's Note:**

> Written for anon prompt: At a bar, Jim is being bullied by some jerk off guy and Bones sees red when Jim gets shoved. The doctors beats up the bully, but ends up breaking his hand and gets glass embedded in the other. He can't work for several days, but he's okay with that, as long as Jim is safe.

This was Jim’s type of bar, the kind with too loud music and cheap beers. Bones wouldn’t be caught dead in here if it weren’t for his friend, but here he was, watching from the bar as his friend danced to the noise that he claimed was music. The kid really fit in here, his charisma oozing from him and charming everyone within range.

Tonight was odd though. Where usually Jim would’ve found someone to dance with, now he was dancing by himself. Well, he was still surrounded by people, but he wasn’t dancing directly with anyone. Bones was a bit worried, but he looked like he was having fun, so there wasn’t really too much wrong.

That was, until a guy thought it was ok to dance with Jim when he clearly didn’t want to. The man leaned down (he was quite a bit taller than Jim) and whispered something to Jim, who shook his head and moved away. Jim wasn’t rude about it, he just smiled at the man and left to go sit next to Bones. He could see the tension in his friend’s shoulders, and felt his own hackles rising in silent anger at this man.

“Everything alright?” he asked, getting close to Jim to be heard over the noise.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Jim’s reassurance was hardly convincing, especially since he stole Bones’ drink and finished it off.

It was just then that the asshole that had made Jim uncomfortable decided to walk over. His face was the picture of entitled rage, and Bones began to rethink his oath.

“What gives you the right?” the man demanded, loud enough to be heard over the music. “You can’t just be a tease and walk away like that.”

“I have every right,” Jim argued right back. “I am here to have fun, not be harassed by some asshole, so you can just go away.”

“It’s your fault, Kirk. You have a reputation, so give me my due.” The man decided that was a good point to lay his filthy hands on Jim, shoving his shoulder hard enough that Jim almost fell off his seat.

Bones saw red, and before he knew what he was doing, he had punched the man in the cheek.

All thoughts of ‘do no harm’ were out of his head, replaced by protective anger that was screaming at him to make this man hurt. He thrust his hand out, palm connecting with the man’s nose in a sickening crunch. The man staggered back, blood pouring from his broken nose, and gabbed the nearest bottle to use as a weapon.

He swung his free hand as Bones, who caught it as Jim had once shown him to do, and brought his arm down on the other man’s in a way that dislocated his shoulder. His opponent the swung the bottle, aiming for Bones’ head. He caught it in his left hand, the bottle shattering and raining a shower of broken glass on him. He took his opening though, his fist connecting with the man’s jaw sending the man back into a table and shooting pain down Leonard’s arm.

The scum bag didn’t make any move to get up, and it was then that Bones noticed his surroundings. All the patrons had stopped what they were doing and were watching him. Both his hands hurt, shooting pain that got worse when he tried to move them, and he realized he had probably broken one. Jim was somehow next to him, hands coming to rest on his shoulders and steering him to leave the bar, but not before paying for their drinks plus extra for any damage.

“Are you ok?” Bones asked as they started walking home. Jim stared at him like he had grown a second head.

“Am I ok? You’re the one that just beat up a guy! Are you ok?”

“He deserved it,” Bones defended.

“He did, but that’s not what I asked.” Jim stopped and stepped in front of Bones, taking his shoulders in each hand and looking him in the eyes. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” Bones insisted, but Jim didn’t move, just continued to wait for his friend to be honest. Leonard let out a sigh, knowing Jim was more stubborn than him. “My hands hurt like a bitch and I’m having a moral crisis over hurting someone,” he answered honestly. “But you’re safe, and that’s all that matters.”

Jim smiled, leaning his head forward and letting out an exasperated laugh. “I’m flattered, but we both know that’s not true. You’re an idiot, Bones, I can take care of myself.”

Jim started leading them home again, one hand moving to the small of Leonard’s back to keep him walking in the right direction. Leonard took a moment to look at his hands, wincing at the shards of glass sticking out of his left palm and the swelling in his right. If he didn’t do something soon, there might be permanent damage.

“I’ll take a look at that when we get home. I have enough experience with bar brawls to know how to remove glass and fix a broken hand,” Jim offered, rubbing his thumb along Bones’ back.

Once home, Jim sat his friend down on the couch and went to find their med kit. He carefully began to remove the shards of glass from his left hand, surprisingly delicate in his work. Once all the pieces were out, he ran a dermal regenerator over the open cuts, watching as the skin began to knit itself back together. Once the healing had started, he wrapped the hand carefully and moved onto the broken hand.

He gently felt around for the breaks, glad to feel nothing out of place. It was more likely a fracture than anything, but he still wrapped it tight so it wouldn’t move and break more. The work wasn’t the best Leonard had ever seen, but this was Jim, not one of his nurses, so he let it be. It would heal fine, even if he couldn’t use it for a few days.

“Thank you,” he said as Jim put away the med kit. Jim smiled at him, then glanced down at his hands once more.

“Is this what it feels like to look after me?” he asked, humor and sadness in his voice in an equal mix.

“That depends. Do you feel like you want to stop me from doing stupid things but know that I’ll do them anyway?”

“Yeah. And I’m grateful for the stupid things you do, even though it would’ve turned out fine if you hadn’t done them,” Jim explained, placing a hand on Bones’ forearm.

“Yeah, that sounds pretty familiar,” Bones said, chuckling and breaking eye contact.

Jim’s hand was suddenly at his chin, forcing Bones to look up into his icy blue eyes that were too expressive and too close.

“Thank you,” he said, and then leaned in and placed a chaste but insistent kiss on Leonard’s lips.

His world seemed to stop in that moment, and he wanted nothing more than to run his hands through Jim Kirk’s perfect hair. Instead, he settled for pushing into the kiss, making it a little less chaste and a little more like a promise. He had waited so long, kept his feelings so close to himself, that this sudden relief was intoxicating.

Looking back later that night, with Jim sleeping soundly next to him, Bones decided that this was well worth the pain of getting here.

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, kudos are love, comments are motivation.


End file.
